Have you ever searched for a product similar to the one that caused your client's injury? Maybe your client's product was destroyed or was discarded, and the manufacturer doesn't make the product any more. Or have you searched for something else because it was useful for another purpose? What can you do? Here's one out-of-the-box solution: Try eBay.
Attorneys have been using eBay to find exhibits in a variety of cases such as the lung-cancer smoking cases and the asbestosis cases. For instance the Mercury News, in an article entitled "Lawyers compete for evidence in eBay auctions," reported that attorney Mark Lanier paid $2,125 to obtain a 1941 Naval Machinery manual. Lanier, a Texas attorney, was "was bidding against a defense lawyer to get his hands on an evidentiary trophy filled with details on where and how asbestos was used aboard ships."
The article notes that Lanier is not the only attorney using eBay. It cites a Los Angeles lawyer who, for his lung cancer cases, purchased some old cigarette advertisements to use "to re-create for jurors the atmosphere in which his clients got hooked."
The article describes other uses: "A virtual time capsule, eBay holds out a seemingly endless supply of commercial and household artifacts, historic corporate documents, maintenance manuals and product catalogs that can help asbestos lawyers pin down where clients encountered the hazardous material -- and who can be held liable."
Another article, this one on the State Bar of Texas site, entitled "Lawyers Mine the [Net] for Evidence," reports that Lanier purchased an un-opened pack of Kent Micronites from the 1950s for $1,025 because it was thought to contain asbestos in the filters. The article added that the testing was proceeding.
If you want to find more on how eBay has been used, take a look at Law.com's article "eVidence [sic] on eBay." You can also search Google for "eBay asbestos."
Happy hunting using this potentially invaluable out-of-the-box tool.